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Mornington, Deadloch, Race and the Voice
Sep. 11th, 2023 06:44 pmOn Friday the Spartan supercomputer was turned back on after a two-week planned outage and operating system upgrade, all with very few issues. At the end of the day, Liana F took me away for a brief weekend holiday in the Mornington Peninsula where I studiously avoided doing any work for the period and instead engaged in a period of relaxation and low-stress adventures, including a visit to several opportunity shops in close proximity (the demographic makes it a good place for "dostadning". Based in McCrae, it was inevitable that we would visit the sights of Arthur's Seat, and the local historic homestead of the first European settlers, first the McCrae family and then the Burrell family. Most historic homes like this have passing interest, but these families were actually very interesting - the first led by the powerful and young personality of Georgiana McCrae and the second by the "household of three" between the Burrells.
Another matter of Australian interest has been the TV series "Deadloch", which I have watched in the company of Erica H. Now I am not one who usually makes too much of such things, at least not too often, but this one is definitely worth a recommendation. Combining a rather clever serial murder mystery with the charm of a Tasmanian country town. The collection of characters who, each in their individual way, provide core characteristics of utter irreverence with the ockerism that sits uncomfortably between being adorable and cringeworthy. Whilst a good portion of the comedy is situational, there is also the delight of sometimes ridiculous and often utterly inappropriate dialogue tangents.
Finally, a more serious matter. In the the next month Australians will be voting to change the Constitution. Specifically to add recognition of the First Nations people and to establish an advisory body to the government on matters that affect them, because that's proven to be the most effective way to deliver government services, working with people rather than applying policy to them. In what has been a relentless campaign of fake news and misinformation, the Voice is suffering somewhat in the polls. One matter I wish to raise at this point (and I will be doing several posts over the next month) is that the Voice is not based on "race" (and I have written a 1500-word article on this). Race is a discredited theory in science and is deliberately not part of the amendment. The various First Nations decide for themselves who is a member of their community and, in some cases, that includes adopting people into their mob - including the eponymous William Buckley (Wallarranga people), James Morrill (Biri Gubba), Narcisse Pelletier (Uutaalnganu) and, an interesting recent case of New Zealander Shayne Montgomery.
Another matter of Australian interest has been the TV series "Deadloch", which I have watched in the company of Erica H. Now I am not one who usually makes too much of such things, at least not too often, but this one is definitely worth a recommendation. Combining a rather clever serial murder mystery with the charm of a Tasmanian country town. The collection of characters who, each in their individual way, provide core characteristics of utter irreverence with the ockerism that sits uncomfortably between being adorable and cringeworthy. Whilst a good portion of the comedy is situational, there is also the delight of sometimes ridiculous and often utterly inappropriate dialogue tangents.
Finally, a more serious matter. In the the next month Australians will be voting to change the Constitution. Specifically to add recognition of the First Nations people and to establish an advisory body to the government on matters that affect them, because that's proven to be the most effective way to deliver government services, working with people rather than applying policy to them. In what has been a relentless campaign of fake news and misinformation, the Voice is suffering somewhat in the polls. One matter I wish to raise at this point (and I will be doing several posts over the next month) is that the Voice is not based on "race" (and I have written a 1500-word article on this). Race is a discredited theory in science and is deliberately not part of the amendment. The various First Nations decide for themselves who is a member of their community and, in some cases, that includes adopting people into their mob - including the eponymous William Buckley (Wallarranga people), James Morrill (Biri Gubba), Narcisse Pelletier (Uutaalnganu) and, an interesting recent case of New Zealander Shayne Montgomery.
